Pedroia, who has had issues with the knee since 2017 and missed all but three games during the 2018 season, made his 2019 debut in the team’s home opener last week. The 35-year-old longtime fan favorite is just 2-for-20 so far, starting his first three games at second base and two games at designated hitter. He was playing second Wednesday night and was replaced by Eduardo Nunez.

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had said Tuesday that Pedroia was exactly where he expected to be offensively and that his three rehab games for Class A Greenville sufficed.

“He felt he was ready to go,” Dombrowski said. “To stretch this out over a lengthy period, it would take a long time period to get through the whole time.

“He’s not going to be ready to play — which we’ve said all along — every day for a lengthy period. So we’re willing to deal with the situation.”

After spending 2017 playing through left knee discomfort, Pedroia had a cartilage restoration procedure. He told reporters at spring training this year that if he could do it all over again, he would not have had the surgery, which ended up sidelining him for most of 2018.

“I don’t regret doing it, but looking back and [knowing] what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it,” Pedroia said in March.

Pedroia’s health struggles have put the Red Sox in a tight position, including using catcher Christian Vazquez at second. Vazquez, who totaled 4 2/3 innings at the position for Greenville back in 2010 and did not own an infielder’s glove, made an appearance at the position in the 2018 World Series.